Monday, 24 October, 2016

Seattle, WA – Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony release a new recording featuring the unforgettable live performances of Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird along with Russian composer Vladimir Nikolaev’s thrilling tribute to Seattle’s own Jim Hendrix, The Sinewaveland, which premiered during the first ever Sonic Evolution concert at Benaroya Hall.

A signature concert series that features orchestral commentary on Seattle’s legacy of inventive and groundbreaking music and art, Sonic Evolution was designed and launched by Music Director Ludovic Morlot as a cross- genre concert presentation. The Sinewaveland was one of four pieces premiered during the October 2011 concert that paid tribute to Nirvana, Quincy Jones and Jimi Hendrix. Of this commission, Nikolaev recalls: “He (Jimi Hendrix) was my idol already during my school years! I listened spellbound to his albums, which were accessible in the USSR only on the overused reels. I learned to play the guitar by listening to his recordings. His music combines spontaneity, lack of restraint and improvisational approach with well-composed forms, refinement and accuracy of details. It may seem unusual, but my path into serious music opened up with rock music rather than Mozart or Beethoven.”

To obtain a physical or digital review copy of the release, photos, liner notes or any other information on Seattle Symphony Media, please contact You You Xia at youyou.xia@seattlesymphony.org.

The Seattle Symphony is grateful to Joan Watjen for her generous support of SEATTLE SYMPHONY MEDIA CDs in memory of her husband Craig.

Recorded live in concert in the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington. Stravinsky’s The Firebird was recorded live in concert on June 19 & 21, 2014. Nikolaev’s The Sinewaveland was recorded live in concert on October 18, 2011.

The performance of The Sinewaveland was sponsored by The Boeing Company, with additional support from Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Argosy Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Launched in 2014, Seattle Symphony Media is the Seattle Symphony’s independent in-house record label. The Symphony has an extensive catalogue of nearly 150 recordings, which have brought forth two Grammy Awards, 21 Grammy Award nominations and two Emmy Awards throughout its history. Under the direction of Music Director Ludovic Morlot, and President & CEO Simon Woods, the Symphony's in-house record label features both “core repertoire” and some of the eclectic and contemporary programming for which the Seattle Symphony has become recognized. The label includes both studio recordings and performances captured live in concert, allowing the organization an unprecedented breadth of repertoire choices.

All recordings are made in the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall and engineered by the Grammy-nominated recording engineer Dmitriy Lipay. Using the Symphony’s own state-of-the-art in-house recording studio, recordings have been engineered to audiophile standards and aim to capture as realistically as possible the sound of the orchestra performing onstage with naturalistic imaging, depth of field and dynamic range. Distributed by Naxos of America, the recordings are available in both physical and digital formats from a variety of retailers. Digital content is available in stereo, “Mastered for iTunes,” 96k 24-bit high resolution and 5.1 surround sound.

ABOUT LUDOVIC MORLOT

The French conductor Ludovic Morlot has been Music Director of the Seattle Symphony since 2011. Amongst the many highlights of his tenure, the orchestra has won two Grammy Awards and gave an exhilarating performance at Carnegie Hall in 2014, as reported in the The New York Times: “The performance Mr. Morlot coaxed from his players was rich with shimmering colors and tremulous energy.”

During the 2016–2017 season Morlot and the Seattle Symphony will continue to invite their audiences to “listen boldly,” presenting Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges, completing their cycle of Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos and several world premieres including compositions by Agata Zubel and Gabriel Prokofiev. All of this will be complemented by the Seattle Symphony’s highly innovative series, Sonic Evolution and [untitled]. This season will also see the release of several more recordings on the Orchestra’s label, Seattle Symphony Media. A box set of music by Dutilleux was recently released to mark the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

This season, Morlot will return to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic and make his debut with the Minnesota Orchestra. He has regular relationships with the New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has also conducted the symphony orchestras in Cleveland and Philadelphia. Morlot has a particularly strong connection with the Boston Symphony Orchestra having been Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor in 2001 and subsequently appointed assistant conductor for the orchestra and their Music Director James Levine (2004–07). Since then he has conducted the orchestra in subscription concerts in Boston, at Tanglewood and on a tour to the west coast of America.

In Europe, Morlot will this season make his debut with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, in the closing concert of the prestigious Wien Modern Festival. He will also make his debut with the Netherlands Radio and Helsinki Philharmonic orchestras as well as return to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Last season’s engagements included the DSO Berlin and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He has also conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London and on tour in Germany. Other recent notable performances have included the Budapest Festival, Czech Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestre National de France, Royal Concertgebouw, Tokyo Philharmonic and Tonhalle orchestras. Morlot served as conductor in residence with the Orchestre National de Lyon under David Robertson (2002–04).

Ludovic Morlot was Chief Conductor of La Monnaie for three years (2012–14). During this time he conducted several new productions including La Clemenza di Tito, Jenufa and Pelléas et Mélisande. Concert performances, both in Brussels and Aix-en-Provence, included repertoire by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Britten, Webern and Bruneau.

Trained as a violinist, Morlot studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London and then at the Royal College of Music as recipient of the Norman del Mar Conducting Fellowship. Morlot was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014 in recognition of his significant contribution to music. He is Chair of Orchestral Conducting Studies at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle.

ABOUT SEATTLE SYMPHONY

The Seattle Symphony is one of America's leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard from September through July by more than 500,000 people through live performances and radio broadcasts. It performs in one of the finest modern concert halls in the world — the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall — in downtown Seattle. Its extensive education and community engagement programs reach over 65,000 children and adults each year. The Seattle Symphony has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season. The orchestra has made nearly 150 recordings and has received two Grammy Awards, 21 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades. In 2014 the Symphony launched its in-house recording label, Seattle Symphony Media.